The photos of the young people watching the big tv screens in the square outside the theater -- AND those of the dancers themselves going outside to make their bows in front of the screens -- were incredibly moving.

Incidentally, the reason of some missing dancers from the scheduled performances was that 6 of the Royal Ballet dancers got the Influenza A, including Marianela Nunez and Steve McRae. Let's hope they will all recover well and quickly!

The MSNBC reporter uses the phrase, "the first international company to perform on the island in three decades"? Is this possible? (I assume she is not counting Russian companies.)

That can't be correct. The Washington Ballet went a couple of years ago. It was a big deal, partly since Septime Webre (the AD) is part Cuban.

Thanks for the links, everyone!

By "international," they mean of international stature, i.e., the Big Six (Bolshoi, Kirov, POB, Royal-UK, ABT and NYCB). As much as we love our WB, it's a smallish (19 + 4 apprentices) chamber troupe. It sometimes appears bigger when its numbers are fortified by the Studio Company and students of the WB School during Nutcrackers and other larger works. Other smallish companies from outside Cuba have performed on the island during the past three decades, certainly during the biennale International Ballet Festival on even-numbered years.

Bart, after 1980, it was very difficult for the Bolshoi and Kirov to tour far from home, unless subsidised by the foreign presenters (i.e., Hochhausers, Kennedy Center, The Met). There was a little something called 'The Afghanistan War' which depleted the coffers.

Also during those festivals we had the opportunity to see many dancers from international companies, even from ABT and NYCB-(those who could travel to the island without restriction by the means of a non American passport). So there, I was able to see performances by Julio Bocca, Maximiliano Guerra, Alessandra Ferri and even Paloma Herrera and Angel Corella. There were some Russians too.

Rather late, but perhaps the most interesting of all the articles about the RB's visit

Interesting and rather inspiring too.

I especially love the sense that people have that high art can be popular and entertaining, and that access to it should be every person's right. This is slowly dissipated in the United States and Britain, where access to such a variety of entertainments and cultures means that everyone can pursue his or her own interests, often ignoring or even scorning others.

Tamara Rojo makes a marvellous point about this:

Rojo is perhaps the closest to a complete artist I meet on this journey; someone who sees life as an artistic endeavour. She points out a similarity between the National Ballet of Cuba and its British visitor: both companies came of age in adversity. "The Royal Ballet grew in importance during the second world war, because they kept dancing when the bombs were falling. If you can give pleasure when people are suffering, then you have a great impact."

The Royal Ballet came to Cuba at the end of their summer tour to Washington and Grenada, and brought with them a small group of Royal Ballet supporters who made individual donations to the tour. This was supplemented with unprecedented support-in-kind from the Cuban Ministry of Culture, Performing Arts Council and a small amount of local British support. Cuban journalists are now talking about the visit of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in the autumn, these visits considered by many to be the most high-profile cultural exchanges with ‘the West’ since the revolution in 1959. In addition, Ballet Boyz (ex Royal Ballet dancers) have made a documentary about the visit which will be shown on TV towards the end of the yearhttp://www.britishco...ballet-cuba.htm

I don't have further details but I assume this will be on Channel 4 (as for their Wheeldon at the Bolshoi documentary).